Young ballerinas try to pirouette during their Police Athletic League (PAL) Ballet program last year at Lisa Eisemann's dance studio in Salinas.

Written by

Mary L. Sanchez

Around July 2008 a child sent me a thank-you card for buying her and her friends an ice cream at an ice cream parlor in Pismo Beach. Why Pismo Beach?

For the past 10 years a group of seven adult volunteers have taken a group of 40 children on a field trip to Pismo Beach and the Great American Melodrama in Oceano.

This trip is fun and educational. Fun because we guests of the Pismo Beach Moose Lodge who graciously host our group by letting us use their facility for swimwear change and to prepare lunches of hamburgers, chips, a drink and a cookie. They also give each child a bag with school supplies. ...